Into the Long Night
by Fearsome Chinchilla
Summary: Gabriel survives being stabbed by Lucifer. After a failed attempt to get somewhere safe, he ends up on the side of the highway, half-dead and still injured when he is found by a kind stranger with a sense of humor to match his. He sided with humanity and in doing so, finds a reward he never expected. Set immediately after Hammer of the Gods.
1. Into the Long Night

**A/N: So here's the thing. I've been wanting to write in the Supernatural fandom for a while, but I'm a little intimidated. So I thought I'd start with this basic one-shot, telling my own interpretation of what happened to Gabriel after Lucifer stabbed him. It can be read as a one-shot, but depending on reader response it could turn into a full-fledged fic…I've certainly left the door open and have plenty of ideas for a story.**

 **So this story picks up after the events of "Hammer of the Gods" wherein I believe that Gabriel survived Lucifer's attack and tries to snap his way out of the motel to somewhere he can recover, but things go a little sideways. I don't know how badly I've bent the rules of the Supernatural universe…but be forgiving! Anyway, I hope you like it.**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own Supernatural. If I did my student loan bill wouldn't make me so sad.**

 **Into the Long Night**

Rain lashed against the windshield of Leah Bishop's SUV. The beat up Toyota had seen better days and certainly better weather as it careened down an abandoned stretch of highway. Leah's Aunt Reese was asleep in the passenger's seat, head resting against the window and mouth open slightly. Leah could barely hear the radio over the din of the raging storm but she didn't dare take her hands off the steering wheel to adjust the volume. Living in the Midwest meant living with bad storms, but she'd never seen one quite like this. If Reese were awake she'd likely call it a storm of Biblical proportions.

"Biblical," she muttered under breath and glanced at the Saint Christopher's medal hanging from her rearview mirror. A gift from her father, he told her that as long as she had it, Saint Christopher would protect her wherever the road took her. Leah didn't really believe him, but the medal was one of the few things she had left of her father and so she kept it in her beloved 4-Runner as a reminder.

The windshield wipers were going as fast as they could and she could still barely see. Leah's clear blue eyes ached from the extended concentration. What should have been an easy drive from Indianapolis back home to Reese's house had turned into a full-fledged slog, first through bad traffic leaving the city and then through the storm. Leah would have loved for nothing more than to be at Reese's house already, curled up beneath a blanket with a cup of hot tea. But it was Leah's own situation that had taken them to the city in the first place, so she felt she wasn't in a position to complain. Absently, she rubbed her breastbone, feeling the slightest ridge in her skin through her black long sleeved shirt.

Mile marker after marker flew by until Leah saw a sign that told her she still had fifteen miles to go until Muncie, and another twenty to Milgrove, where Reese and she lived. Normally, thirty-five miles was nothing. But in this weather it felt like a thousand miles, stretching endlessly into the dark night. More than once, Leah contemplated pulling over beneath the cover of a bridge to wait the storm out, but the longer they were on the road the longer she would have to wait until she could shower off the smell of hospital and sink into her bed. By now Leah was used to her regular check-up appointments, but her body still felt the effects of long travel and being poked and prodded like a human pin cushion. Leah's lower back ached and the medical tape on the inside of her left elbow itched against her sensitive skin. Leah blew out a sigh and adjusted her grip on the steering wheel, telling herself that thirty-five miles was a piece of cake.

A particularly loud crack of thunder was preceded by a nearly blinding flash of lighting. Reese woke up with a start, sitting bolt upright in her seat. "Where are we?"

Leah spared Reese a sideways glance. At forty-two years old, Reese Bishop looked more like Leah's older sister rather than the younger sister of Leah's father. She kept her almost black-brown hair cropped at her shoulders and the only sign of her impending middle age were the streaks of gray that she refused to hide with dye. But Reese had almost the same blazing blue eyes as her niece, set beneath thick, dark eyebrows.

"About twelve or thirteen miles out of Muncie," said Leah and she could hear the tension in her voice.

"That close!" Reese exclaimed, peering harder out of the windshield. "You were supposed to pull over and wake me up at the halfway point!"

Leah merely shrugged off her aunt's indignation. "You were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up."

Reese spluttered indignantly for a few moments, staring at Leah with blank fury. "Do I need to remind you that it was you and not me who spent the whole day being wheeled from test to test? If anyone should be sleeping it's you. God, I knew I shouldn't have let you drive."

Leah gritted her teeth and kept her eyes fixed on the murky road. "I like driving, Reese. It helps me keep my mind off things."

Leah's candid response was a rare admission and it immediately sobered her aunt. Reese leaned forward in her seat and touched Leah's denim clad knee, giving it a motherly squeeze. "Hey," she said soothingly. "These tests are going to come back fine. Just like the last round did and all the rounds before that."

Blowing out a sigh, Leah said nothing for a long time. "I just don't want all of this to be for nothing, you know?"

"It's not for nothing. I've already gotten two more years with you that we weren't supposed to have. That's not nothing."

Leah tore her eyes from the road for a split second to give Reese a warm smile. In that time a number of things happened at once. Thunder clapped so loud that Reese smashed her hands over her ears as the sound waves ripped through the 4-Runner, rattling the windows and sending the ratio on the fritz. The brightest flash of lightning Leah had ever seen blinded both women, so bright that for a second she swore that night suddenly became day. And then, over the thunder and the rain lashing Leah heard Reese scream.

"LEAH, LOOK OUT!"

Her shriek pulled her eyes back to the road. Leah's foot slammed on the brakes before her brain connected all the dots. The 4-Runner's tires locked and the SUV lost its traction on the slick highway. Reese reached for the handle above her head, throwing out a hand to stop herself as she pitched forward. Leah barely had time to turn the wheel, spinning the car out of the direct path of the person that had literally appeared out of the darkness.

For a handful of truly terrifying seconds, Leah was completely out of control and she felt her stomach turn inside out as the SUV spun around. Reese's continued screaming assaulted Leah's already throbbing eardrums and stopped only when the SUV ground to a screeching halt, the beams of the headlights cutting through the rain and the dark just in time for Leah to see the person turn around. Though she only caught a glimpse of him, Leah could tell it was a man and he swayed uncertainly before collapsing onto the pavement.

"Oh shit," she said and fumbled for her seatbelt.

"Leah, Leah what are you doing?"

"I think he's hurt! Call 911!"

Leah ignored Reese's protests and she took a deep breath before forcing herself out of the car and into the deluge. The rain, aside from being relentless, was cold and immediately soaked through her long sleeved shirt, the fitted t-shirt she wore beneath it and her long hair, which had previously been hanging down her back in straightened sheets, gone slightly frizzy from the humidity. Using the headlights as her guide, she ran along the road until she came to a halt, slipping on the slick asphalt and dropping to her knees next to the man. In the dim light, she could see his hair was dark from the rain and slicked away from his pale face. He was muttering incoherently hand pressed over the lower section of his chest, just at the bottom of his ribcage.

Carefully, she placed a hand on the side of the man's face and tilted it towards her. Slowly, his eyes opened and Leah swallowed her gasp of surprise. The man's eyes were brilliant hazel, burning out from the depths of his bruised eye sockets and they were unfathomably deep as though he'd seen more than any one man should have in his lifetime. "Hey, hey can you hear me?" She asked, her voice tripping over the words.

He nodded, opening his mouth to speak and then shut it. Leah smoothed the rain from his forehead and let her gaze drop to where his hand still pressed over his chest. "Are you injured? Let me take a look."

Leah was certainly no doctor, but she undid the buttons on his shirt and forced it open, pushing his hand aside. Sure enough, he had been covering a grisly, bloody wound. Sucking in a tight breath, she reached took his hand and placed it back over the wound, squeezing it gently before she let go. "Hold on," she said softly.

His eyes stayed on her, eyebrows rising when she grasped the hem of her long-sleeved shirt and peeled it off her slender body. Wadding it up, in a ball, she again pushed his hand out of the way and pressed it over the wound. A grunt of pain escaped his mouth and he convulsed at the pressure.

"I know, but help is on the way. My aunt is calling 911." The stranger's eyes widened and he looked as though he were about to protest. Leah increased the pressure and he groaned a little louder from the pain and nodded once in understanding. Then, he did something Leah did not expect. Slowly, he raised his shaking, non-bloody hand and cupped her cheek. Leah sucked in small breath but moved into the touch all the same, hoping to give him some comfort.

"What's your name?" He rasped, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Leah," she replied and shifted her weight as the pavement dug harder into her knees. "Leah Bishop. What's yours?"

"Gabe," he said and tried to speak again but screwed his eyes shut, groaning with pain as Leah increased the pressure again to stop the bleeding.

Reese's splashy footfall reached Leah's ears and she looked up to see her aunt crouch next to her. Gabe's hand fell from Leah's face, coming to rest at his side. "The ambulance is on it's way," she said from beneath the cover of her umbrella which she moved to cover as much of Gabe as she could. "What happened?"

"He's been stabbed," said Leah in a low voice. "Though I have no idea how on earth he ended up here. Maybe someone did it on the side of road and drove off?"

Reese's wide eyes reflected her internal panic. "Oh my God," she muttered. "With what?"

The sound of metal clinking to the pavement answered that question and both women stared in open-mouthed wonder at the shining silver blade that seemed unnaturally bright in the darkness. Neither Leah nor Reese was inclined to take the blade. Leah couldn't explain it, but the sharp edges and brilliant silver metal of it gave off an ominous sort of vibe.

"Take it," said Gabe through gritted teeth. "Don't let anyone else get their hands on it."

His voice had an effect on Leah that she couldn't begin to put into words. Despite being weak from his injury, the man seemed to have a certain presence about him that Leah wouldn't dare defy. Reese, though she looked dubious, seemed to feel the same way and complied with his command. She grabbed the blade and ran off to the car to hide it before the authorities arrived. Leah stared down at him in wonder.

"What happened to you?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"My brother is an asshole," he groaned. "That's what happened to me."

"Your brother did this!" Leah exclaimed, unable to keep the shock from her voice.

Gabe nodded and shifted his body, trying to get more comfortable. But his intense gaze never left Leah's face and he covered the her hand applying pressure to his wound, his fingers lacing atop hers. "You're gorgeous," he said. "Did you know that?"

Leah arched an eyebrow. She probably looked closer to a drowned rat as she took note of the thick ropes of sopping wet hair that fell over her shoulders. But Gabe didn't seem to mind the mascara that ran beneath her eyes as he searched her face out.

"That's the blood loss talking," she teased gently, wondering if this stranger had a sense of humor. "Besides, flattery will get you nowhere."

Sure enough, Gabe closed his eye and gave a half laugh. He winced in pain in the wake of his laugh, but he was still smiling. "Damn. And here I thought we were having quite the meet-cute."

Leah rolled her eyes. "I think the circumstances have to be kitschy to qualify as a meet-cute. There is nothing about this situation that qualifies as kitschy."

Gabe's smile widened a fraction, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly. "At any rate, you're beautiful."

"Well, you're not so bad yourself. Especially for a half-dead guy." Gabe raised his eyebrows in a joking manner, but said nothing. They stared at one another for a moment longer. Leah felt her heart beat a little harder and Gabe's hand over her hers squeezed her fingers gently. At length Leah heard sirens and she broke their mutual gaze, ending the spell that entranced them both. Turning her head to look down the highway, she could see an ambulance racing towards them.

"The cavalry has arrived," she said softly.

Moments later the ambulance doors opened and two EMTs hurried to her side. Unceremoniously, they edged her out and took over for her. Leah shakily rose to her feet and watched the EMTs as they loaded Gabe onto a spine board and began working on his wound, shouting to each other over the gale. They worked at top speed to get Gabe out of the downpour. A hand rest on Leah's shoulder.

"The police want to talk to you," said Reese. She, too, was waterlogged and looked scared.

"Sure," said Leah as the EMTs loaded the gurney into the ambulance. "Just one thing."

She jogged away from her aunt. "Is he going to be okay?" She asked one of the EMTs.

The young man, probably still in his early twenties looked from his patient to Leah. He gave a shrug. "No idea. The wound is pretty bad. It's lucky you were here though, if he comes through it'll be because you helped to stop the bleeding. Why, you know the guy?"

Leah shook her head. "Well, you left a lasting impression, he's asking for you," said the second EMT from inside the ambulance.

Frowning slightly, Leah accepted the hand up into the back of the vehicle. She squinted into the bright light but found Gabe strapped down to the spine board watching her. An oxygen mask covered his face. She leaned in closer as his beckoning and he lifted the mask from his face. "Keep it safe," he rasped and Leah didn't need to ask to know he was talking about the silver blade. "I'll get it back from you later."

Leah's frown deepened. "How?"

"You mean, you're not coming to visit me?" And although he spoke with a joking lilt, Leah could see the disappointment and fear flash in his hazel eyes. Leah couldn't formulate an answer fast enough. "These things have a way of working out," he said.

Leah knew that she should feel somewhat threatened and that there was something fundamentally wrong about hiding the weapon used to stab Gabe, but again his commanding aura stopped her from saying so. She wondered what it was about this man that caused her mind to blank so easily. But Leah couldn't help it, Gabe somehow encouraged her trust and she didn't want to break it.

"Ma'am, we've got to get going, the police still want to talk to you," said an EMT behind her.

"Yeah, yeah," she replied and then gave Gabe her best encouraging smile. "I bet a hospital bed will feel like heaven compared to the road."

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Better than heaven, trust me. And it's got nothing on meeting you, Leah Bishop."

Scoffing, Leah took the oxygen mask and put it back over his nose and mouth. "Just don't talk to the nurses that way," she warned, he offered a weak, fleeting grin. "Goodbye, Gabe."

He gave her a half-wave before his eyes fluttered shut. Leah sidled out of the ambulance and started walking away. She heard the doors shut and pausing, she looked once over her shoulder. The sirens picked up again as the ambulance sped away towards the nearest hospital in Muncie. As it hurried into the night, Leah realized with a jolt that it had stopped raining. For several moments she stood still, mind reeling as the cool wind blew against her warm face. She waited until the darkness swallowed the emergency lights, carrying its funny, handsome, and strange patient into the long night ahead.

"Leah!" Reese prompted her.

Shaking her head clear, Leah took off towards her aunt who stood with the police. She had no idea what would become of Gabe or why his brother would do such a thing, but she hoped with all of her heart that he would be alright. And, if she was being honest with herself, a tiny part of her hoped that maybe the would see each other again.

 **A/N: So…there it is! I figured that Gabriel would manage to find some semblance of humor even when he's half-dead on the side of a highway, I had a lot of fun writing his banter with Leah. I hope you liked Leah and Reese!**

 **Anyway, like I said above…this can be read as a one-shot or I could go on. Let me know what you think, if you liked it, didn't like it, if it needs work, whatever! Much love, Chinchilla.**


	2. Friends in Low Places

**A/N: So the plot started forming and I decided to continue this. I really like Leah and the challenges her character presents and I want to develop characters different than what I've done before. So…this is going to be a slow-ish burn romance fic, spanning over multiple seasons! I hope that you guys read and continue to like it.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited and liked the first chapter. I try to PM reviewers directly, but really…so much love to everyone who is interested in this so far!**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own Supernatural. God, I wish I did. I also do not own the single line of dialogue from Hammer of the Gods, nor to I own the song Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks.**

 **Chapter 2 – Friends in Low Places**

 _Gabriel could hear his brother crying. Lucifer stood over his brother's body, hands still coated in blood, shedding tears over the life he'd taken. From where he lay, Gabriel listened to the soft rushes of breath that accompanied each stilted sob. The angel blade remained lodged in Gabriel's abdomen, pushing a path through his vessel which should have been fatal. It was painful, Gabriel felt every cell the blade sliced through singing in misery._

 _"I'm so sorry brother," said Lucifer, his voice breaking over the words. "But you gave me no choice."_

 _It was strange, in a way, to be lying in a pool of his own blood while listening to his brother talk to his dead body. Gabriel had faked his death numerous times over the course of thousands of years but never quite like this. He'd been stabbed, burned, shot, and worse in his pursuits as the trickster. Sometimes he died to escape persecution from lesser minded villagers, others to naturally escape a particular situation, and yet others at the hands of hunters, most recently the wonder brothers themselves. But every other time he'd faked his death it had been in the pursuit of running, not fighting. If Gabriel could have laughed he would have. It had only taken a few millennia and being called a Class-A coward douchebag, but apparently all it took to put his piece back on the chessboard were the Winchester brothers._

 _At length, Gabriel heard Lucifer's heavy footfall becoming more and more distant until the doors swung shut. Even then, it wasn't safe to move. He lay there for a while longer, feeling the strength sap out of his vessel and pushed out the heartbreaking sorrow by congratulating himself on a trick well done. The ashy scent of charred wood assaulted Gabriel's nose, a byproduct of the truly exceptional bit of artwork he'd pulled off, burning an imprint of wings into the floor. His eyeballs felt as though they'd been superglued to his eye sockets and set on fire, but it had been worth it to reproduce the blinding white light two times in the same night. Even then, Gabriel knew his true crowning achievement was the fact that his archangel blade was currently skewering his body and he wasn't dead._

 _"Thank you Plan B," he muttered to himself and when he knew it was safe, he lifted a shaking hand and grasped the hilt. Blood slicked the hilt and he had to tighten his grip. Gabriel gritted his teeth and pulled up sharp, dislodging the blade. Simultaneously he felt the searing pain of the blade running through his flesh once more and he also felt the relief as his vessel shifted back to its original state._

 _Partial shape-shifting, a particular gift of Gabriel's and a crucial skill he'd taught himself early on during his earth-bound tenure. Perhaps Lucifer was the first to get the drop on him with an angel blade but that hadn't meant Gabriel didn't have a contingency plan for a such an event. And so, as soon as Lucifer recognized Gabriel's trick the trickster dug deeper into his bag and shifted his vessel, stretching and moving all of his vital organs out of range, just in time for Lucifer to ram the blade into him. Doubled over and clutching his brother, Gabriel drew every ounce of his brother's attention with a few pitiful sounds and a face that communicated Lucifer's betrayal._

 _Gabriel groaned and let his hand fall back to the side, the angel blade loose in his grasp. Blood bubbled and spread out from his wound. Pain such as he'd never experience ached deep in his body. Perhaps he hadn't died, but Gabriel realized with astonishing clarity that he was very nearly dead. He had to get to safety where he could heal properly, rest and wait for his angel batteries to recharge. Over the years he'd carved out several little safe havens for himself, ramshackle buildings from the outside that were veritable paradises on the inside, warded so heavily that only he could find them. There was one such place not far from Indianapolis. Travelling that far wouldn't do any further damage, surely he had strength enough for that._

 _"Come on," he said through gritted teeth as he tried to snap his fingers. It took Gabriel a few feeble tries and as he felt his body leave the hotel room, a fresh wave of pain broke his concentration and his batteries died. He landed on his feet, slamming hard onto slippery asphalt. Rain soaked through his hair and he squinted into the headlights of an oncoming car._

 _Gabriel watched in slow motion as the driver slammed on the brakes and he turned just in time to see the SUV hydroplane, skidding dangerously close to the edge of the road. Through the windshield he could just make out the terrified faces of two women. He swayed for a moment and collapsed in a heap._

X X X

Leah was freezing. Although the rain had stopped some time earlier, a stiff breeze swept across the flat land and cooled her soaking wet t-shirt and jeans. The chill seeped through her skin and settled deep in her bones, causing her to shiver while she half-listened to Reese talking to the police. The deputy, a portly man in his late thirties, took notes on a small notepad, nodding every so often at something Reese said.

"Like I said officer, it was like he came out of nowhere. To be honest he's lucky we didn't hit him," said Reese. Her blue eyes were overlarge and Leah could see the slightly exaggerated hand gestures that Reese made when she was nervous or lying.

"And he didn't say anything about a last name or where he came from?" The deputy asked. His beady muddy brown eyes flickered from Reese to Leah and back again. Reese crossed her arms tightly over her chest and shook her head.

"Nothing," said Reese and shrugged her shoulders as if to say she was sorry she couldn't be of better help.

The deputy clicked his tongue and shook his head once. He shifted his weight on his small feet and re-read his notes again. Leah shivered and turned to look over her shoulder at the stretch of highway. The police blocked off one lane but she didn't see why, Leah hadn't seen a single car since they'd stopped. Now that Gabe was gone, she felt her head clear and realized that Reese was right. They'd all been remarkably lucky that Leah hadn't hit Gabe. With her arms crossed over her chest she rubbed her fingers over her breastbone, feeling it ache even worse than it usually did when the weather took a sudden turn.

"Ma'am?" The deputy's deep voice caused Leah to start. "Sorry, I know it's cold. I want to make sure I've got everything right before I let you all head home to dry off. You said that he appeared on the highway and you stopped your vehicle and got out to assist. Is that correct?"

Leah nodded.

"And he said his name was Gabe and his brother stabbed him and that's all you got?"

Her insides squirmed. Leah didn't dare look at Reese for fear that she wouldn't be able to keep her face straight and unassuming. "That's it," she confirmed, determined to keep her answers as short and to the point as possible.

"Alright, you two should get on home and dry off," said the deputy, clearly disappointed that neither woman had more information to volunteer. He reached into the pocket of his olive green jacket and produced two business cards. "If you think of anything else at all, give me a call."

"Of course officer," said Leah and she shook the hand that he offered.

"Oh, deputy!" Reese called to him as he started to walk back towards his squad car. He wheeled back around. "The victim, where did the ambulance take him?"

"County hospital in Muncie," he said. "I'm sure he'd welcome a visit from the two ladies who saved his life."

The deputy stalked off, leaving Leah and Reese to cast each other nervous looks. "Let's go," said Reese under her breath. Leah followed her aunt to the 4Runner and didn't object in the slightest when Reese slid into the driver's seat, leaving Leah to collapse in the passenger's seat. Her wet clothes stuck uncomfortably to her skin, limiting her range of motion as she settled into the leather seat. Leah had half a mind to strip down to her underwear in the car just for sheer comfort's sake, but forced back the impulse.

Reese started the SUV and wheeled it around, taking off for Milgrove and the relative safety of their house. As soon as the police blockade was out of sight she floored it, pushing the car twenty miles over the speed limit. Leah noticed for the first time that Reese's hands were shaking so hard she had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. Her eyes were enormous and she kept her head resolutely forward.

"What the hell was I thinking," she said after a few minutes of silent panic. Leah's mouth opened in surprise. "We stole an attempted murder weapon, hid it and lied to the police. Leah, we blatantly lied to the police."

Up until that point, Leah had done a pretty good job of stuffing that particular problem into an unused corner of her mind. But at Reese's words the realization hit her with the force of a speeding train. Now that they were away from the scene and Leah wasn't unnaturally transfixed by Gabe's intense stare, she started to understand her aunt's hysteria. "Not our finest hour," said Leah slowly.

Reese made a noise reminiscent to an angry cat. "We could be arrested for obstruction of justice. We could have aided in letting a murder get away. Why did I listen to him? We should have handed the knife over."

Leah stared at Reese in open fascination. Her aunt was certainly far more high strung than Leah had ever been, but this was a new level of hysteria. She kept muttering unintelligible things under her breath as she drove, drumming her fingers anxiously on the steering wheel. The overall anxiety level of the car was reaching a fever pitch and Leah found herself getting antsy.

"Is it still in the car?"

"It should be under your seat," said Reese grimly.

Leah leaned over and reached beneath the seat. Careful not to cut her fingers, she groped around until she felt the smooth hilt and grasped it. The blade was longer than she remembered, three sided, each edge wickedly sharp. Even now it shone with an eeriness that set Leah on edge. "Have you ever seen anything like it?" She asked, voice in slight awe.

Reese tore her eyes from the road to look at Leah as though she'd lost her mind. "Right, because my knowledge of murder weapons is so vast," she snapped.

"Okay, okay, no need to get snappy," said Leah. She rotated her wrist, trying to get a better look at the blade. There were no unusual markings or any tell tale sign of a manufacturer or any origin. It felt strangely light in her hand but nearly indestructible at the

same time. Leah set it down to rest on her lap. "What do we do with it?"

Reese frowned. "I don't know. What if the police find out about it somehow? I say we go to county hospital, shove it in with his other personal items while he's asleep and get the hell out of dodge. That way we can claim we knew nothing about it."

Leah glared at the blade. The more time drug on the more Leah realized she'd been stupid on the highway. She knew nothing about Gabe, he could have deserved that stab wound for all she knew. A thousand scenarios ran through her mind, each one worse than the last. "I say we throw it at the bottom of a lake or bury it in the middle of nowhere," she muttered. "That way we never have to see him again and we can forget this ever happened."

Reese took a deep breath. She seemed to be collecting her bearings once more and Leah could see she'd relaxed her grip. "No," she said firmly. "What if he comes looking for us when he gets released?"

A frown tugged at Leah's lips. She hadn't thought of that. "I don't like it," she said warily. "What if we get caught?"

"Better we get caught trying to return it than hiding it at the house," muttered Reese. Both women fell silent. Leah cranked the heater higher, thinking longingly for dry clothes and her warm bed. The blade shone in the light from the car radio, reflecting the green digital clock numbers. Absently, Leah tilted the blade to change the reflection and let Reese drive them home.

"We lied to the cops," she said slowly in disbelief. "What the hell were we thinking?"

"I blame it on his eyes," said Reese suddenly. "He did have gorgeous eyes."

The tension between them broke. Leah had to cover her mouth to keep her snort of laughter at bay. "Don't look now, but I think the feminist movement just died in your rearview mirror."

Reese reached across the distance between them and hit Leah's shoulder with the back of your hand. Both women laughed. Leah relaxed back into the seat and half-listened to Reese as she concocted a plan to get the blade back to Gabe without anyone noticing. She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep in the car until Reese woke her up in the driveway.

X X X

On any normal day Gabriel's mind could be in roughly a thousand places at once. He could simultaneously distort reality, keep an ear on his brothers and sisters, watch his back, plan his next scheme, and still make the decision as to what particular creation of his design would be his evening company. Yet, despite his impressive multitasking capabilities, Gabriel could only think of one thing. It was maddening and infuriating, driving his mind to grasp at straws as to why on earth the only thing Gabriel could think about was the song "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks.

The lyrics kept playing on repeat complete with the steel guitar and Brooks' deep, twanging voice. Gabriel detested country music in nearly all its forms and considered it one of the scourges of the the last couple of centuries, which made it even more incomprehensible as to why he kept humming the tune to himself. Staring up at the white ceiling, Gabriel drummed his fingers over his stomach, fighting the urge to play a little air guitar while he tried to consider all the possible reasons why his mind decided to press play and then hit the repeat button.

Well, Gabriel reasoned, his life was shaping up to be something of a country song. The critical elements were certainly present, loathe as he was to admit it to himself. His ex had moved on with someone else, his brother had just tried to kill him, he'd ended up on the side of the road, and he had an affinity for pearl button plaid shirts. Gabriel grimaced, he was one three-legged dog and a rusty pick-up truck away from being worse than a country song. He was practically a country music cliché.

"Looow places," he sang to himself under his breath, twirling his finger in a circle for the full effect.

Gabriel wasn't completely sure what day it was, how long he'd been in the hospital, or exactly what had happened to him. But he knew a few things for certain. For one, his whole body hurt and all he wanted was a painkiller. For another, he was thirstier than he'd ever been. Unlike most earth-bound angels, Gabriel enjoyed the taste of certain foods and drink. Sure, he'd used it as a means of keeping up his trickster appearance, but even then, who didn't love a good glass of bubbly after a long day? But for the first time he was thirsty and actively craved the largest glass of ice water he could get his hands on. Further, a wretched, throbbing ache pulsed between his temples every time he tried to so much as blink. But worst of all, no matter how many times he tried weakly snapping his fingers, Gabriel's archangel battery was long past empty, leaving him nearly human, and very much at the mercy of total strangers.

The sheer pathetic irony of the situation wasn't lost on Gabriel. He was an archangel, the God of mischief, one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe and he was stuck in a hospital bed hooked up to monitors and humming Garth Brooks under his breath. If only his brothers could see him now, they'd have a field day. If Lucifer thought Gabriel was slumming it the night before it was nothing compared to his current predicament. If the hospital gown wasn't bad enough, then the fact that Gabriel was actually hungry enough to try hospital food would have sent Lucifer into hysterical laughter. The corner of Gabriel's mouth pulled into a bare smile. At least at one point this would have been a funny joke to his brother. Not so much anymore. The deep stab wound in his vessel was proof positive of that.

Shifting in his bed, Gabriel tried to get comfortable but found no matter how he tried to move he still hurt. He could feel the medical tape pulling against his skin, holding down the antiseptic gauze that covered his stab wound, the central source of his pain. Somewhere between passing out on the highway and waking up he'd been in surgery where a couple of scalpel-wielding, egomaniacal surgeons dug around in his vessel's insides, checking for permanent damage and sewing him back up. Gabriel grimaced at the thought of having anyone tampering with his vessel, his constant companion for literally thousands of years.

He had been beyond amused, however, to listen to his sweet red-headed nurse tell him in a slightly awed voice that the doctors were amazed that he'd survived. A stab wound that deep should have hit some major organ and caused massive internal bleeding. Gabriel should have been dead within minutes of being stabbed. The doctors apparently were calling him the luckiest SOB on the planet, but Gabriel knew luck had nothing to do with it.

" _Don't forget, you learned all your tricks from me_."

Lucifer's words echoed in Gabriel's head, thankfully chasing away Garth Brooks but unfortunately making his headache worse. Yes, thought Gabriel bitterly, he'd learned all his tricks form Lucifer. But Lucifer hadn't considered a critical wrinkle in his logic. Gabriel may have learned form his brother, but while Lucifer had spent centuries locked in the cage, Gabriel had had thousands of years to perfect those petty tricks into an art form. Lucifer lacked a certain sense of detail and style that Gabriel had always possessed and it had finally worked to Gabriel's extreme advantage. Perhaps Lucifer knew where his brother's heart truly lay, but he couldn't have hit it if he'd tried. Not when Gabriel, a master at shape shifting his vessel, managed to shift the placement of his vital organs at the last possible second.

"Fat load of good it did me," he muttered sardonically to nobody in particular.

Gabriel hadn't counted on his archangel blade still doing so much catastrophic damage to his vessel. He'd intended on being able to pull the blade out with relative ease, snap his fingers, and appear at one of his favorite earthbound hideouts while he healed. Spending a few days hiding in in a safe place among a bevy of beautiful women while he healed before jetting off earth to ride out the apocalypse in heaven was infinitely preferable to being where he was.

Well, he thought, his eyebrow quirking slightly, nearly infinitely preferable. The women he would keep his company with were beautiful, but they were nowhere near as fascinating a the woman who had allegedly saved his life on the highway.

"Leah Bishop," he repeated her name, enjoying the way it rolled off his tongue.

Gabriel closed his eyes and could clearly see Leah's brilliant blue orbs peering at him from beneath dark, manicured eyebrows. He remembered the mascara trailing beneath her eyes, cutting start paths along her pale skin. Gabriel could see the gentle hollow of her cheeks and the whiteness around her slightly chapped lips. He remembered feeling a few tendrils of sopping wet hair brush across his chest when she pressed her long sleeved shirt over his wound. Gabriel's fingers twitched, recalling how smooth her wet cheek felt against his rough palm.

Leah Bishop was a complete stranger and yet she'd run out into a veritable hurricane to help him. She had no idea who he was or what had really happened, but that hadn't stopped her from peeling her long sleeved shirt off and pressing it to his wound, ruining it in the process. Perhaps Leah's appearance at the right moment was the universe's way of telling Gabriel that he'd finally gotten something right for once. He'd stood up for humanity, only half-certain of his convictions when he'd told Lucifer that people deserved saving and then he'd been rewarded by Leah Bishop who believed that he had been worth saving. Perhaps it was the blood loss or the rain, but Gabriel had looked into Leah Bishop's blazing eyes and immediately trusted her.

Why else would he have told her to take his archangel blade for safekeeping until he was on his feet? There was absolutely zero guarantee that she'd come see him at the hospital. All Gabriel had was her name and the color of her eyes. He had no real power to find her at the moment and no idea how to find her. All he'd known at the time was that he didn't want the police to get their hands on it or worse, have it be lost altogether. What in his father's name had he been thinking?

"Blame it on the apocalypse," he said, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

 _Blame it on the apocalypse_.

That was the best excuse he could come up with. The world was going to end anyway and at the rate Gabriel was going he'd probably be stuck on this rock when it happened. So what did it really matter whether he had the blade or some strange woman had it? They were both super screwed anyway.

A gentle knock on the door pulled Gabriel's attention from his morbid thoughts. The redheaded nurse appeared, giving him a tentative smile. She didn't wait for his permission, and rather bustled on in. Springs of ginger curls framed her face, escaping the French braid that ran down the back of her neck. Spates of freckles covered her face, neck and arms. "How are you feeling?" She asked, not looking directly at him as she began checking the monitors.

"I could use a fifth of Jack and a shot of morphine but otherwise I feel like a million bucks," he said and his sarcasm was not to be missed.

The nurse turned her big brown eyes on him in mild surprise. Immediately Gabriel felt the sting of guilt for being so cruel and then felt the intense confusion as to why he felt bad. Treading on human emotion hadn't ever particularly bothered him before. Was this another unfortunate side effect of his near-human status? "Well, you'll be out of here in a couple of days," she said, reverting back to her kind nature. But Gabriel could see the mild hurt reflected in her eyes.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he said. Even the apology felt foreign on his tongue. "I'm feeling much better. I just hate being confined to a bed, y'know?"

The nurse's shoulders relaxed and she nodded. "Not many people like it, but it's for the best," she chirped.

Gabriel shifted again in his bed. The nurse hesitated at the foot of his bed. "So I've been trying to find you in the system so I can notify your next of kin, but I can't find you."

He made a face. "You won't find anyone," he said at length. "It's just me, myself and I."

The nurse's face fell slightly and she walked out of his hospital room, but he distinctly heard her say "how lonely" as she returned to the nurses station.

Gabriel dropped his head back against his pillows, wincing as his stitches pulled. The open expanse of the empty room suddenly became crushing. "You have no idea."

X X X

Reese Bishop like to think of herself as a perfectly rational and capable woman. In her forty-two years she'd managed to get an education, grow a successful small business from the ground up, own her house, and raise her niece into a fine woman. She did the bookkeeping for her small clothing and gift boutique, volunteered for the local food kitchen, helped organize the town summer carnival and had never relied on anyone else for support. Reese had been Leah's rock through her father's death and then through the worst five years imaginable. She was smart and resourceful and unflappable.

Yet, all of these credentials escaped her brain as she sat at her kitchen table staring at the knife she'd essentially stolen. It was an odd thing, especially out of place sitting on a blue and white paisley placemat. Reese tilted her head to the side and sighed. She'd never stolen so much as a pack of gum in her entire life and here she was harboring evidence in a criminal investigation. If only her brother could see her now he'd probably high five her and then tell her off for dragging his daughter into the mess. Curling her fingers tighter around her cup of coffee, Reese lifted her eyes to the ceiling and sighed.

"What was I thinking?" She asked aloud to nobody in particular. Reese liked to think when she was speaking out loud she was talking to her brother, Keith, Leah's late father. It was a question that had plagued her all night long, leading to restless sleep.

The sound of footfall on the stairs told her that Leah was awake. Sure enough moments later her niece came into the kitchen, still dressed in her sleep clothes. She'd pulled her abundant chocolate brown hair into a sloppy knot at the top of her head and she stretched her sinewy arms high over her head as she took the direct path to the coffee maker.

"Morning," she said with a yawn. "Still brooding?"

Reese made a face. Leah fixed herself a cup of coffee and then set about the kitchen, fixing a glass of water. She wore a pair of heather gray leggings and a loose royal purple tank top over a teal sports bra. Involuntarily, Reese's eyes fell to Leah's exposed upper chest, a part of her body that she normally kept completely covered. It was easy for Reese to understand why. Although it was already two years old, Reese could still see part of a stark scar on Leah's chest. It began just below the hollow of her throat and disappeared beneath her sports bra, plunging down in a straight line to a little bit below the tip of her breast bone. It was a scar that meant so many things to the both of them, but above all, it served as a reminder to Reese of how lucky they'd been.

"No," she said diverting her attention. Leah rolled her eyes and opened one of the upper cabinets in the kitchen to reveal a several pill bottles.

"You're so full of it," said Leah as she began uncapping the bottles. One by one, Leah swallowed her daily medication cocktail, making a face as she swallowed the last horse pill. "Delicious," she said sarcastically.

Reese, however, was glad for a reason to change the subject. "Did Doctor Wallford say whether he wanted to change your dosage or switch medications?"

Leah downed the remainder of the water and shook her head. "Nope," she said, popping the 'p.' "Good old Wally wants to check in six months from now and see how I'm doing with my current cocktail. He said there are a couple of studies on some new drugs, but he doesn't want to prescribe them until he's seen more research. So, for now I remain chained to the usual suspects."

Although Reese was terrible at chemistry, she could name every drug Leah took and list the benefits and potential side effects of each. Reese knew the exact dosage Leah took and what to do if she missed even a single day's worth of pills. Emergency numbers for all of Leah's doctors were programmed into their phones, along with emergency medical instructions, and all of her current medications. More than once, Leah had called Reese's planning overkill, but Reese would be damned if anything happened to her niece now that they'd gotten this far. Leah unthinkingly rubbed the heel of her palm over her scar as she returned to her coffee.

"New drugs are coming out all the time," said Reese. "Who knows, maybe one day you'll be down to one pill a day. Wouldn't that be a miracle."

Leah waggled her eyebrows with a little grin. "Reese, I've already had a heart transplant, I think that's all the miracle I'm going to get."

Reese smiled into her coffee. It indeed was a miracle. Some days Reese still couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Leah going on daily runs or leaving the house to head to work. It hadn't been that long ago when Reese was keeping vigil beside Leah's bed, sobbing into her hands while Leah told her it was okay to let go.

"Anyway, stop avoiding the subject," said Leah pointedly. She lifted herself to sit cross legged atop the counter. "Are you still dead set on this insane plan to return that thing?"

Reese scowled.

"Yes. I don't see any better option."

Leah sighed and hopped off the counter. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to get my morning run in before we go further tempt fate."

Reese watched silently as Leah sashayed from the kitchen, presumably to put on running clothes. Moments later, she heard the front door shut, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

X X X

When Leah was sixteen, she would sneak bottles of cheap vodka into her bedroom, tucked away in her school backpack. She hid the bottles deep in the back of her closet, where she was sure they'd never be found. Leah poured small amounts into gas station sodas or the flasks her friends owned to take to football games and parties. It was a common practice, something all her friends did and Leah was sure she'd never be caught. That was until she'd come home from school one afternoon to see that Reese had lined up the bottles on her dresser, waiting for her with a disapproving expression to rival any parent on the planet.

For the first time in twelve years, Leah felt sixteen all over again. Reese walked next to her down the hallway of the county hospital, clutching her black purse against her chest. The mystery knife was buried in the recesses of Reese's bag, stuffed beneath the usual litter of receipts, random papers, and odd junk that she never cleaned out. Both of them remained silent while they waited at the elevator, headed to the acute care floor.

"Room 416?" Leah asked, repeating the number the front desk attendant had given them.

"Yeah," said Reese. "You're going to walk past the door, check if he's asleep. I'll go in and put the knife back. We're in and out and no one's the wiser."

"We go on with our merry lives," said Leah. They boarded the elevator. "Oh, and try to act natural. The way you're holding your purse practically screams 'look at me, I'm carrying a really big knife in my bag.'" Reese glared at Leah.

"Sometimes I don't know why I put up with you," her aunt muttered, much to Leah's delight.

"Because I am a damn ray of sunshine," she replied with a cheeky grin. "But seriously, didn't you ever sneak anything in and out of your house in high school?"

Reese frowned, but took the message and loosened her death grip on her purse strap. "No, that was your father. A skill I recall you picking up."

Leah's wicked grin only widened. Moments later they stood outside of room 416. The door stood ajar and Leah could just see inside the doorway. Thick shafts of afternoon sunlight poured through the windows in the room and she could see that the TV suspended from the ceiling was turned on. Craning her neck to get a better look, Leah smirked to discover that the theme from _General Hospital_ was playing. Reese looked vaguely uncomfortable as Leah poked her head in the doorway.

A man lay in the room's sole hospital bed. The television remote lay on the bed next to his limp hand and his face was turned off to the side, still in sleep. Leah could see his face clearly, just as she remembered him. A light coat of stubble clung to his jaw and his face was slackened, but he certainly looked better than when she'd seen him on the highway. Gabe twitched slightly in his sleep but continued on. Leah's stomach turned in a knot. He looked small in the hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines. Reflexively, Leah's mind jumped to a time not so long ago when she was the patient stuck in a hospital bed.

"Well?"

"He's asleep," said Leah, pushing back unpleasant memories of hospital rooms, oxygen masks, and so many needles she'd lost count. Rising to the tips of her toes, she could see a plastic bag sitting on a chair on the opposite side of his bed. "He stuff is on the other side of the room."

"Okay," said Reese. She took a deep breath and then walked into the hospital room. As soon as she was out of sight, Leah pressed her back flat against the wall and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded uncomfortably in her chest, still strange and foreign to her. She placed her hand over her breastbone. It was then that she heard the crinkle of the plastic bag from Gabe's room, followed by a familiar voice.

"If you wanted to go through my stuff all you had to do was ask," said Gabe and she could hear the laugh in his voice.

 **A/N – Okay. I really hoped you guys liked it! Next chapter features some Leah/Gabriel conversation and we drop in on Kali (who is important this first arc).**

 **Anywho, let me know what you think! Much love - Chinchilla**


	3. Dream in Blue

**A/N: Hi all! This chapter was a beast to write – I always struggle with setup and serious Gabriel is really hard to write…I'm worried his a little OOC in some portions, so sorry in advance! Also, for those of you wondering – with the exception of Chapter 1, all of the Chapter titles are song titles, usually related to a song that is either mentioned in the story, a song I listened to while writing, or if the lyrics really fit the chapter!**

 **You guys are amazing! Thank you a million times over for the follows, favorites, and reviews! I usually PM reviewers, but to those who either have PM'ing turned off or left guest reviews – seriously, thanks for the love. Now, onto chapter 3!**

 **Flashbacks are in Italics and apologies for any typos - I'm currently writing without a beta!**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own Supernatural, Jell-o, the song Dream in Blue by The Stray Birds or anything else you recognize as obviously not mine. I do, however, own Leah and Reese!**

 **Chapter 3 – Dream In Blue**

Reese stood with her back to Gabe's hospital bed, hand halfway in her purse and fingertips brushing over the hilt of the blade. With one hand she tried to open the plastic bag containing Gabe's belongings as quietly as possible. He was asleep now, but who knew how long that was going to last?

"If you wanted to go through my stuff all you had to had to do was ask."

Screwing her eyes shut, she grimaced. Busted, thought Reese darkly. Was this was Leah had felt like the handful of times Reese caught her sneaking in after curfew during high school? It stood to reason, because her intestines had twisted into all kinds of knots and guilt burned fuchsia in her cheeks. Leah had always looked like a seasick deer in the headlights. As discretely as possible, she pulled her hand out of her purse and shut the flap. Releasing the plastic bag, Reese desperately scrambled for any plausible excuse as to why she was digging through his things. Slowly, she turned around, knowing she looked exactly like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar.

Gabe had raised his hospital bed. The innocence in his eyes would have been convincing if not for the smirk that tugged one side of his mouth. Reese's cheeks literally hurt she was blushing to badly. Par for the course for the previous day, all Reese could wonder was what on earth had she been thinking?

"Good afternoon," said Gabe in a drawn out sort of voice. He made no secret of the fact that he thoroughly enjoyed having caught her red-handed.

"Hi," she said her voice tripping over the word. Embarrassed didn't even come close to capturing her mental state. She stood, rooted to the floor, wishing fervently that it would open up and swallow her whole.

"So, are we going to pretend it's just you? Or are you going to call off your lookout at the door?" Gabe enquired.

Reese pinched the bridge of her nose and blew out a sigh. "Leah!"

Less than a second later, Leah's dark head popped in the doorway. She ambled into the room, all long denim-clad legs and a crew-neck gray t-shirt. Arching a manicured eyebrow, Leah's eyes darted from Gabe who was trying his hardest not to laugh and Reese who resembled a tomato on fire. Leah shoved her hands in her back pockets and rocked back on the heels of her white Converse sneakers.

"Whoops?" She offered in snarky consolation and Reese immediately made a mental note to hide Leah's running shoes later in retribution.

"Leah Bishop!" Said Gabe gleefully. "You look different when you're not half-drowned!"

Distrust flashed in Leah's blue eyes. "You look different when you're not half-dead," she retorted. Gabe's grin only widened.

"So, what brings you two lovely ladies to my humble abode this afternoon? Not trying to steal my credit cards I'd guess." It was then that comprehension dawned on Reese. Gabe knew exactly what they'd been trying to do and in the meantime he was having great fun at her expense. Out of the corner of her eye, she could Leah bristle in irritation at being played like a mouse by the Cheshire Cat.

Reese frowned. "We were just returning something that I think belongs to you."

Gabe's face changed for a microsecond but Reese still saw it. A darkness haunted his eyes and turned his mouth down. Before her eyes, Gabe seemed to age twenty years from some unknown but horrible weight on his shoulders. It sent a chill right into Reese's bones, telling her that there was more to this man than met the eye. But, she couldn't put a finger on it and as soon as the expression came it went, replaced by surprise.

"Well aren't you two regular lawbreakers, bringing a weapon into a hospital."

"You can't think this is funny," snapped Leah suddenly. "We put our asses on the line for you."

Reese's gaze snapped from Gabe to her niece. Something was wrong, Leah, though cynical and occasionally sarcastic, was almost never rude. Gabe's comment, while grating had been the type that Leah should have joked about. But just a glance at Leah told Reese that more than Gabe's words had crawled under her skin. She stood rigid, eyes wide and skin ashen. One of Gabe's machine's beeped and Leah flinched. Her hand went to her chest and then suddenly, Leah wasn't there. Her mouth slackened and a light went out of her eyes as she stared off unseeing. Her fingers twitched erratically at her side, coinciding with her laborious breath.

"Leah?" Reese asked, abandoning her conversation with Gabe and working her way around the hospital bed.

Leah didn't hear her, she wasn't in the present moment. Gabe said something of concern in the background, but Reese didn't hear him. She was too focused on her niece who mouthed wordlessly, suddenly rasping for breath. A fresh terror that Reese hadn't felt in two years bubbled up in her throat. Leah took a deep breath and then she was back in reality, eyes wide and hands shaking. She slid her foot back, looking as though she were about to turn heel to run as far and as fast as she could from the room.

"Leah, are you alright?" Reese asked. Leah's blue eyes snapped to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a second. Shutting her eyes, Leah pinched the bridge of her nose and gave her head a single, hard shake.

"I'm fine," she said and the lie was so blatant Reese was sure even Gabe would figure it out. "I just need some air. Gabe, see you around," she said dismissively. Leah didn't even wait for Gabe to respond. She whipped around and walked stiffly out of the room, leaving its occupants in open-mouthed surprise.

"Maybe you should," Gabe started to say, but Reese cut him off.

"Take care of that, yeah," she said in a faraway voice.

Gabe examined her with fresh curiosity, as though genuinely fascinated by this new turn of events. Reese remained puzzled, but spared a faint smile for Gabe. His hazel eyes warmed in response.

"Go," he said waving his hand. "I'm not going anywhere. If you come back tomorrow I'll give you the explanation I think you both are looking for and you can return what I suspect you've got in your purse."

Not for the first time, Gabe's imploring, surprisingly commanding tone did its job. More questions than answers popped up in Reese's mind about the mysterious Gabe.

"I'll come back tomorrow," said Reese. "It's probably best that what I've got isn't in your hospital room for too long."

Gabe gave her a hearty wink. "It's like you can read my mind. Seriously, get out of here." Reese nodded, gave him another tentative smile and left the room. She had been hoping to see Leah outside of the room, but she was nowhere to be found. A nurse glanced up from the nurses station.

"Shot out of here like a bullet about a minute ago."

X X X

Leah was experiencing a temporary blackout. That was the only way she could explain how she'd ended up pressed against the side of the 4Runner with no memory of how she actually got there. Somehow her wobbly legs carried her down the hall, into the elevator-or stairs for all she knew-out through the lobby, and into the parking lot. She came to, stumbling through the rows of cars until she spotted the familiar chrome Indiana University decal on the back of her navy SUV.

Now she stood with her back against the driver's side door, palms flat on the metal as though grounding them to something would stop the trembling. It had taken a massive effort to keep her lunch down. Leah could still feel her stomach churning. Dropping her head back against the window, Leah closed her eyes and counted to five, punctuating each number with a deep breath. It didn't help. A few deep breaths wasn't going to erase the panic that still bubbled and fizzed in her lungs. The oxygen did nothing to clear her muddled brain. The rational part of Leah's brain kept shouting that it wasn't real. But the rest of her body couldn't agree.

It had felt real and that was all her body cared about.

Leah tried to banish the flashback, now a memory, from her mind. Even away from the room, she could hear the steady beeping from a heart monitor, the mechanical sounds from the machine controlling the IV drip. The smell was fresh in her nose, antiseptic and harsh. Drawing in a rattling breath, Leah struggled for air in a way she hadn't since before her surgery. Flashes of so many memories assaulted her from all directions. Her skin recoiled at the bite of invisible needles. She could feel the burn of fresh medicine through her central line. Her left index finger twitched, as though the pulse monitor was still clamped on it. But more than anything, memories of a single day stood out more than the rest.

 _Reese sat in the chair next to Leah's hospital bed, an issue of some trashy tabloid on her lap. "In other news, Britney Spears got hospitalized for actually going crazy," she said. Leah smiled at Reese, then adjusted her cannula. The steady flow of air put her tired lungs at ease, but her whole chest ached from previous hours of struggling for breath. Her skin was still tinged slightly blue and Leah's fingers felt twitchy and tingly from the lack of blood flow. "So, I guess things could always be worse. You could be a washed up pop star with a drug problem and two kids by a douchebag ex-husband."_

 _Though it hurt to laugh, Leah couldn't help it. The tiny action caused a spike in her heart monitor and she stopped almost immediately. "Do you think they took away the plastic cutlery that comes with her hospital food?" Leah asked, her voice rasping uncomfortably over the words._

 _Reese snorted. "I'd pay good money to see that woman suck Jell-O from a plastic cup with no spoon."_

 _Leah let her head settle back into her pillow, a broad smile tugging at her chapped lips. "Give it a couple of days and I bet TMZ will have snuck a camera into some of her get well flowers."_

 _A nurse came in just as Reese threw her head back and laughed._

Leah raked her fingers through her long hair and sighed. Back then Reese had been her constant companion and daily dose of humor, often bringing in bad tabloid magazines and reading sex tips aloud from Cosmo much to Leah's amusement. They spent hours taking childish quizzes, watching endless TV episodes online, and coming up with a hundred ways Reese could get Leah's attractive doctor to fall in love with her. When Leah was too tired to speak, Reese read to her and when Leah woke in the morning, Reese was always there.

It hardly seemed fair that after two years of relatively smooth sailing, Leah would have a flashback now. It couldn't have come at a more inopportune time, right in front of a complete stranger who was looking at Leah a little too curiously for her comfort.

"Just great," she muttered to herself, squinting towards the main hospital entrance, waiting for Reese to appear as Leah knew she eventually would.

But, Leah could wait. She'd become extraordinarily good at waiting over the years. She'd waited for doctors to figure out exactly what was wrong with her. She'd waited for the medicine to work, only to be disappointed when it didn't. She'd waited while a surgical team tried to find a solution. And then she'd waited for a donor heart, waited and waited and waited.

 _"Has Doctor Wallford been in today?" The nurse asked as she checked the settings on Leah's IV drip. A no-nonsense Latina woman, Nurse Rosie Perez was one of Leah's favorite people in the hospital. She'd never been afraid to tell Leah the truth without pulling her punches. Leah liked that. She was tired of people walking on eggshells around her._

 _"No," said Leah._

 _"Why, does he have good news?" Reese asked, ever the optimist. Leah understood the subtext of Reese's question, as did Nurse Perez._

 _Nurse Perez shifted her weight on her feet. She started taking Leah's vitals. From their close proximity, Leah could see the disappointment flash in the woman's eyes, providing all the answer Leah needed. "Is he finally going to ask Reese out on a date?" Leah asked._

 _The tension in the room broke, but only slightly. "Who knows, today just might be the day," said Nurse Perez teasingly. "But I do know that he wants to send you home."_

 _"Send her home?" Reese asked hollowly. The frustration and sadness in her voice was palpable. It should have been good news. But it wasn't, because it only meant one thing. There was no heart for Leah and there wasn't likely to be one any time soon._

 _"It's okay," said Leah, trying to offer her aunt a brave smile. "The food here sucks anyways."_

 _Leah kept her good face up until Reese wasn't looking and then she let it fall. Bitterness welled up in her mouth, coinciding with the pang of hopelessness rooted deep in the pit of her stomach. Her chest tightened and she sucked in a hard breath._

Even now, Leah could taste the bitter flavor on her tongue. Her ribs burned in response to the shallow breaths she took, working overtime to keep up. Both of her knees wobbled uncertainly and buckled beneath her weight. Desperate to get off her feet, Leah unlocked the car and eased herself to lay down on the back bench.

From where she lay, Leah stared at the roof of the car, forcing herself to think of something else. What had Reese said to Gabe? Did he notice her panic? What would he think? She rest her hands on her chest, tapping her fingers in time with the steady beat of her heart.

 _Leah's heart stumbled over the beats, tripping into total chaos. Her body went rigid. The tabloid in Reese's lap went flying as she shot to her feet, grasping Leah's hand. Leah's eyes went wide. Adrenaline flooded her body, causing her back to arch as it tried to force her heart to work harder to pump the blood so she could return to normal. A fire exploded in her chest, spreading outwards to her blue fingers and swollen ankles._

 _Nurse Perez hit the emergency call button near Leah's hand and vaguely, Leah could hear her shouting for help. The beeping of Leah's heart monitor went haywire. Reese was struggling against the nurse and orderly that forced her out of the room, craning her neck to see what was happening. In a single, terrifying moment of clarity, Leah thought that this was it. She was going to die._

 _The world went black at the same time she flat lined._

Leah opened her eyes back in the present. She took a stilted breath and winced. The hurt in her chest had nothing to do with physical pain.

X X X

A few hours later another thunderstorm rolled through Millgrove. This time, however, thunder rolled pleasantly. Rain lashed at the windows of Reese's house and lightning forked across the sky. Reese was downstairs in the breakfast nook, having been on the phone for ages with various friends in town, talking about something, Leah didn't know what. Leah had retreated as soon as they got back, drowning the worst of her misery in the shower. She then grabbed all the necessities of comfort and headed to her favorite spot in the house.

Leah's favorite place at Reese's house was a large second story bay window. Located in the guest bedroom, the window had a wide window seat set with cushions and a few comfortable pillows. She could see out over the backyard garden that Reese kept and had a view of the woods that were close to Reese's property line. From childhood on, Leah liked to sit in the window to read, do her homework, watch the rain or snow fall, or just to think.

She sat there now, a thick afghan blanket wrapped around her narrow shoulders. A cup of earl grey tea rest cradled between her hands, imbibing its warmth into her skin. Leah hadn't been properly warm since Reese and the other nurses managed to snap her back to reality at the hospital. It was only in the last hour that she'd stopped shaking. Dressed in her most comfortable pair of leggings and a loose long sleeved shirt, Leah's hair was piled into a messy knot at the top of her head. She'd grabbed a book with every intention of reading, but hadn't even opened it. Instead she drank in the storm, letting it sooth her raw nerves.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Reese stood in the doorway, carrying her own mug of tea.

"I doubt they're worth that much," said Leah sarcastically. Reese chuckled and padded barefoot across the hardwood floor, coming to sit on the opposite of the window seat. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

Leah shrugged. "I don't know how much good it will do," she said. "It's just something I have to process and then push past."

Reese frowned. "Something happened, Leah. If I had to guess I'd say you were having a very vivid memory or a flashback even."

Her humorless smile gave her away. Reese's blue eyes implored Leah to talk. Leah remained silent for a while longer. The thought of dragging up bad memories, of one of the worst nights of Reese's life felt unfair. Hadn't her aunt been through enough? "It's not a big deal."

"Don't do this, Leah. Don't shut me out," said Reese firmly. "We've been through every bump in the road together. Don't count me out now because you're afraid of upsetting me. I'm a big girl, I can take it."

That was true, thought Leah. "I guess it was a flashback," she said at last, feeling uncomfortable even as she spoke. "To that night in January when I flat lined."

Leah rubbed her face with one of her hands. Reese stiffened and the emotion Leah had been hoping to avoid welled up in her eyes. It was the hollowness that came on in the last months before the transplant, when they were hanging onto the barest thread of hope. Back then even Reese, the perpetual optimist, lost hope more than once. "And I don't know why it happened," Leah plowed on. "I haven't been in an actual hospital room since the surgery and I think it was just the whole thing set something off."

Reese leaned forward and rest her hand on Leah's knee. "It's okay, the psychologist said that could happen, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but two years later? It's stupid, I shouldn't have let it get to me. And in front of Gabe no less," said Leah disparagingly. "I bet that went over well."

Reese shrugged. "He all but kicked me out of the room so I could go take care of you. He seemed genuinely concerned to be honest."

Absently, Leah picked at a loose thread on her blanket. "Well, that was nice of him."

"I don't think he's a bad guy," said Reese, picking up on Leah's disinterestedness. "I think he was just put in a bad spot. I'd like to help him out, if we can. I'm going back to the hospital tomorrow to talk to him about it."

Leah returned her gaze to her aunt, giving her a glowing smile. "Saint Reese to the rescue," she teased lovingly. Reese swatted Leah's knee. They fell into comfortable silence as thunder rumbled in the distance and a fresh wave of rain splattered against the windowpanes. "Sometimes I think that the surgery was just half the battle," she said softly. "That the hardest part is now. Everything is so different and I feel different, like I'm fighting harder now to stay afloat than I ever was before."

"I know," said Reese. "You really are past the worst."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on."

"But, you can't sweep things like this flashback under the rug. It's not something you just get over."

Leah pursed her lips. "Stop being so reasonable," she chided. "You're making it difficult for me to be pouty and petulant."

Reese laughed. "God forbid I let you wallow."

A commotion broke out in the room when Reese's tea went all over the floor, a product of Leah jokingly launching a small throw pillow in her aunt's face. Their laughter carried through the house, providing the best balm for Leah's bad spirits.

X X X

Gabriel had spent the long hours alternating between the news, terrible late-night infomercials, and wondering what happened to Leah Bishop. Throughout the night nurses came and checked his vitals, updating his patient chart. In the meantime, he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of judgment day. The apocalypse was coming and a string of natural disasters and chaos would precede it. Little signs cropped up now and again. Various weathermen had noted the unusually unpredictable weather patterns. Biblical storms followed by freak cold snaps followed by sudden drought-like conditions. Small earthquakes had rattled towns on fault lines and higher than average snowfall was rocking the northern part of the continent. It was all unusual, but not so strange as to raise suspicion.

Still, the pattern was there, and Gabriel knew he had precious little time to get off this rock before it imploded. Somewhere in the back of his mind the irrational voice of hope kept saying that the Winchester brothers could pull it off. But Gabriel didn't really believe that. Even if they managed to get the rings of the four horsemen, there was the small predicament of opening the cage and somehow forcing Lucifer into it. It would take more than a forceful shove to get him back into his prison and deal with Michael. Gabriel was having a hard time believing that even the hard-headed brothers had what it took to pull the whole thing off.

Gabriel hoped he was wrong.

A storm the night before cleared into an overcast day and he'd been diverting his attention from the end of the world, wondering when Reese Bishop would return. There mere thought of the Bishop women brought a grin to his face. He hardly knew them, but he already liked them. Both Leah and Reese were exactly the type of human being he'd been defending when he foolishly took on his brother. Each a perfectly imperfect example of the species. Gabriel thought back to yesterday, when he'd caught Reese trying to covertly put his archangel blade back with his clothes, to clean up the mess he'd created when he gave it to them in the first place. He could have fried an egg on her face and he hadn't been that amused in a long, long time.

A soft knock on the door derailed his train of thought. "Come on in," he said jovially.

Reese Bishop walked into the hospital room, clutching a brown paper bag and carrying a large tote bag on her shoulder. All of her light brown hair was swept from her face in a ballerina bun, revealing a few stubborn streaks of gray. Gabriel could just make out the beginnings of crows feet at the corners of her eyes. She set the brown bag on the bedside tray.

"Hospital food is terrible," she said.

Gabriel slumped in sheer relief. Since discovering his injury basically rendered him human, Gabriel had discovered the pains of actually having an appetite and the horrors of hospital food. "I could kiss you," he joked.

Reese arched a disapproving eyebrow. "You don't seem like the vegetarian type," she said appraisingly. "So I went with Italian sub from the deli near my house." She then set the tote bag down. "I also figured that you aren't going home any time soon and considering the only shirt you've got has a giant hole in it, I grabbed a couple of things from my house. Ghosts of relationships past."

The face she made brought another smile to Gabriel's. "You don't have to do all this," he said.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "It's really not a big deal."

Gabriel's cheeks felt unusually hot. Unsolicited generosity was a foreign concept to him. Suddenly desperate to change the subject, Gabriel leapt on the first thought that came to his mind. "How's Leah?"

Reese's shoulders tensed. "She's alright. Leah doesn't care for hospitals, that's all."

Reese was lying. It didn't take a genius to see the shift in her eyes and the twitch in her mouth. But the way she spoke revealed more than any physical tell. The warmth and protectiveness in her voice betrayed Reese, confirming what Gabriel had suspected since the day before: Reese was more a parent to Leah than an aunt.

"Can't say I blame her," he said and gestured to the general mediocre splendor of his hospital room.

"So," said Reese, cutting him off and changing the subject again. She sat down in the chair next to his bed, fixing him with an intense stare. "Yesterday you mentioned something about an explanation for all this?"

Gabriel grimaced. So much for small talk. For hours he'd been turning the details over in his head, wondering how on earth he could fashion them into a believable story. Being stabbed by Lucifer in a hotel occupied by Pagan Gods to try and prevent the apocalypse just didn't roll quite right off the tongue. Gabriel certainly wasn't going to tell Reese the whole truth, but he didn't particularly want to outright lie to her either.

"I have three older brothers," he said slowly. Reese remained utterly passive, waiting for him to continue. "The brother who did this," he gestured to the general area of his wound. "Has serious daddy issues. He threatened someone I cared about and didn't care whether I stood in his way or not."

"But he's your brother," said Reese, confused.

"Blood isn't thicker than everything," said Gabe softly, sadly.

"What about your other brothers? The rest of your family? Why wouldn't you contact them?" Reese asked.

Gabriel's face became stony and his blood turned to ice. "Trust me," he said slowly, seriously. "I love my brothers, but I am better off without them. The whole world is. It's just me, myself, and I from here on out."

It took several seconds for Reese to soak up the meaning of his words. "Who are you?" She asked. "Don't lie and tell me you're just some regular guy. There's no way a normal person appears out of nowhere on an abandoned highway or has a knife like the one you gave us."

Gabriel shifted and winced as his stitches pulled. He considered lying, but where would that get him? So far it had put him in this position, a lightning strike short of human, alone, and completely useless. "You're right. I'm not an average guy. I am sorry about making you take the blade, by the way. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly when I did that."

"You're going to have to give me more than that," said Reese. "I want to help you, Gabe. I'm willing to help you start fresh, but I need to know that you're not going to bring unwanted trouble to my front door."

"I'm dead to the people who would bring trouble my way. And I have zero intention of wading back into my family's messes, it never ends well for me. There is more to me than maybe meets your eye, but I swear I'm just trying to move on with what time I've got left." Gabriel wondered just long that would be. Would the world be ending in a couple of months or a few weeks? All of the carefully constructed plans of heaven and hell had been completely toppled in the face of the Winchesters, something which delighted and frustrated Gabriel in equal turns. He wanted it to be over and he hated not knowing when that would be.

Reese considered him for a long time. Then, she crossed her arms over her chest, arching a light eyebrow. "If I help you out are you going to waste my time? Because Leah and I don't want to waste our time on you if you're going to cut and run."

Gabriel stared at her in wonder. In his hundreds of thousands of years wandering the earth he'd met humans of all types. He'd inserted himself seamlessly into their lives, often taking more from them than he should have. Gods, angels, demons, and every beast in-between were all the same when it came down to it. They underestimated humankind, taking what they wanted and giving almost nothing back. And yet, here sat a fragile, flawed, unremarkable human being offering Gabriel a blank slate. He'd given her nothing in return and all she expected was his sincerity. It was then that he realized what he'd said to Lucifer was completely and utterly true. For the first time in his life, Gabriel didn't want to cut and run, not in the face of such incredible generosity, even if it was going to end in a matter of weeks.

Gabriel turned the force of his eyes on Reese, determined to convey his sincerity to her. "I meant what I said about moving on, so I'm in for the long haul, but I do have one question. Why do you want to help me?"

Reese shrugged, but gave him a beaming smile, reminding Gabriel of Leah. "You seem lonely and nobody should be alone."

Words failed Gabriel.

X X X

When Leah needed to clear her mind, she ran. This was true in her youth when she ran cross country, in college when she ran to avoid the Freshman Fifteen, and especially true after her transplant. There was something about the feeling of her feet hitting pavement, the rhythmic beat of her heart, and the way she paced her breaths that eased the tension in her body and helped her mind sort through snarled emotions and disconnected thoughts. The more complicated the mess, the further and harder she pushed herself.

So, it was only natural that after Reese announced that Gabe would be staying in the garage apartment Leah would lace up her running shoes and fly. Rivulets of sweat ran down the hollow of her throat and gathered at her lower back. She could feel sweat soaking through her sports bra and her only saving grace was the large headband she wore over part of her forehead, keeping it out of her eyes. Her muscles were beginning to protest her current path, having gone down the long drive, a half-mile down the road, and then zig-zagging through the closest neighborhood. In her chest, Leah's lungs burned and her heart pounded, but she savored the feeling, rather than reject it.

Top Forty pop flowed into her ears, a bunch of EDM garbage that Leah would never listen to on a normal basis. But the tunes were easy for setting a pace and she could ignore the inane lyrics, focusing instead on more important things. For the past two days she'd been chewing over the flashback she'd had at the hospital. In the weeks following her transplant, Leah met with psychologists to assess her mental state and they'd told her that the symptoms of mild PTSD were increasingly common in transplant patients, especially those who had previously spent an extended period time in the ICU. She'd gone to therapy for the entire first year after her surgery and now knew the symptoms like the back of her hand. Nightmares, sleeplessness, flashbacks, irritability, withdrawal from the world, anger. At the time they'd seemed like meaningless words and phrases on a piece of paper, a shrink's checklist for the traumatized.

But, in the weeks and months that followed, Leah gained a grudging respect for those symptoms. Exacerbated by her original drug cocktail, she'd let the worst symptoms run rampant, unchecked until one night when she woke Reese up because she'd been screaming and clawing at her scar, desperate to rip her own heart out. There was a cyclical pattern to it all. Nightmares led to sleeplessness which led to irritability which inevitably led to Leah holing up in her house, refusing to see the outside world. The doctors managed to combat the worst of her symptoms by adjusting her medication and Leah conquered the rest with Reese's unending support and a healthy dose of cynicism and humor. She'd recalled vivid memories, but until two days ago, Leah had never experienced a flashback. It left her breathless, aching, and immeasurably sad. Leah knew that it was the hospital that triggered the flashback, it was the first time she'd been in an inpatient ward after spending much of the final six months before her transplant in the hospital.

Perhaps the strangest part was that Leah had felt no anxiety about going into the hospital beforehand, it seemed as natural as anything else she did. Yet, seeing Gabe lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors and an IV bag had done something to her. After that, all Leah could see was Reese sobbing into Leah's then-skeletal hands while Leah tried to comfort her aunt though the oxygen mask covering her face. It was an unexpected turn of events, one that left Leah feeling as though she'd been punched in the gut.

Huffing an irritated breath, Leah pushed her feet harder into the ground as she turned onto the last half-mile stretch to the house. Her usual 'get over it' attitude wasn't getting her anywhere, and she reckoned Reese was likely right. There were some things Leah couldn't simply sweep beneath the rug. Having a flashback to that night was one of them.

This was the only reason why Leah was grateful for Gabe's impending arrival. Reese's decision to invite a complete stranger to live in the garage apartment while he recovered from being stabbed by his brother was as baffling to Leah as the sudden resurgence in her PTSD symptoms, maybe even more so. They'd argued for an hour over the matter the night before, with Leah pointing out what she thought were valid concerns. They didn't know this man at all. He had been stabbed by his brother, which clearly mean serious family issues. They had no idea if he was running from the law, running for the hell of it, or running from a family. Reese shouted Leah down at each turn, swearing that everything was going to turn out fine.

Leah still vehemently disagreed. It was one thing to help the man while he laid on the highway in the pouring rain. It was another to put a roof over his head when he very well could bring unwanted trouble with him. In the end, however, Reese guilted Leah into it by pointing out that helping their fellow man was the right thing to do and in these times, a little kindness went a long way. Deep down, if Leah was being really honest with herself, she knew the real reason for her hesitance was purely selfish. She'd established a good routine over the last two years and the house was the one place were Leah felt free, she didn't want to give that up for Gabe, even if he did have handsome eyes and a trustworthy nature.

She pushed herself through the last part of her run, now fully on autopilot. Leah had no idea how long she'd been gone, but she was fairly certain that it was close to six o'clock. At length, she turned onto the driveway and as the two-story blue house came closer, she could see Reese's Camry sitting in the drive next to the 4Runner. It seemed that Reese and Gabe had arrived shortly before Leah because Reese's upper half was in the backseat and she emerged holding the white plastic bag that held Gabe's personal belongings.

Her aunt caught sight of Leah and stopped, waiting for her. Leah reached Reese, slowing to a walk for the last few meters. Breathing hard, Leah bent over and braced her hands on her lower thighs.

"You gonna make it?" Asked Reese sarcastically.

Leah sorely wanted to respond to her aunt with her middle finger. Instead, she turned her face to the side and up to see Reese arching an eyebrow. "I'm fine," she said between gasps. "Just got to catch my breath."

"Running," scoffed Reese. "Why you picked that up as a hobby I will never know."

Leah straightened and started towards the stairs of the wrap-around porch. "It's cathartic," replied Leah, prompting a chuckle from her aunt.

"Nice PSAT vocab, Einstein. Got any more gems hidden in your sports bra?" Leah raised her eyebrows jokingly before she started to open the front door. Reese shouted out and stopped her. "Be nice," her aunt warned.

Leah made a face of mock offense. "I'm always nice."

She didn't wait to hear Reese's undoubtedly disparaging response and went inside. Sure enough, sitting on the caramel leather sofa was Gabe. He wore a shirt that Reese rustled up the night before, souvenirs of an old boyfriend who was within an inch of Gabe's height. Even from the other side of the living room, Leah could tell the shirt was a size or two too big, but Gabe seemed entirely unaffected. Instead he was watching the news with a stony expression on his face.

"Gabe," said Reese, drawing Gabe's attention away from the TV. "You remember Leah."

He kept a protective hand over his stab wound as he rose to his feet and tipped his head cordially to her. "Good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too," said Leah breathlessly as she opened the hall closet and grabbed one of the hand towels she kept there. Leah wiped her face and the back of her neck whilst she kicked off her running shoes. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Thanks," said Gabe in a slightly surprised voice. It was almost as though he wasn't used to discussing his health or hearing any kind of well-wishes. Absently, Leah wondered what his home life was really like, and how he'd ended up on the receiving end of his brother's rage. Gabe then seemed to notice that Leah was red-faced, sweaty, and still out of breath. "Have a nice run there Speed Racer?"

"Very refreshing," she replied. She padded barefoot into the kitchen, stretching her arms as she went. Footfall behind her told Leah that Gabe had followed her. Ignoring him, Leah grabbed a bottle of the water from the fridge and drained half of it. When she turned around, she found him standing in the doorway, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Nice place you've got here," he said looking around the kitchen.

"It's Reese's," said Leah leaning her hip against the counter top. "I just live here."

Gabe's hazel eyes tracked her every movement, as though waiting for something. Leah knew she wasn't playing nice, but she couldn't help her hostile reaction to the new atmosphere in the house. Leah hated change in almost all its forms. Tension hummed uncomfortably between them and one glance at Gabe's face told Leah he could feel it too. "Thank you," he said suddenly. "I ah-I know that you guys didn't have to do this."

Leah shrugged. "I didn't do anything, it was all Reese."

"Something tells me if you really didn't want me here I wouldn't be here."

Leah fiddled absently with the ends of the long braid that hung over her shoulder. "Everyone deserves a second chance," she said at length. "I'm a creature of habit and I'm not fond of change, that's all."

Gabe's expression lightened. His posture loosened and he ambled further into the kitchen, standing on the opposite side of the counter from her. Leah decided that the solid blue button down he wore didn't suit him, she much preferred the plaid from before. But he still carried himself with an unusually authoritative air. "I'm not even going to be in the house, you'll probably never even know I'm here. Scouts honor," he said.

Against her will, Leah gave a half-laugh. "Were you actually in the boy scouts?"

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p.' Gabe smiled at her.

Leah set her water bottle on the counter and placed her elbows on the granite, resting her chin in her hands. "You're not a serial killer are you? I mean, I guess you wouldn't tell me if you were a serial killer, but it can't hurt to check."

Gabe threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not a serial killer," he confirmed. "No need to sleep with a baseball bat next to your bed."

She grinned. "You know that's exactly what a killer would say. Sort of like how men who go out of their way to say that they're nice guys are always the total opposite of nice."

"Would it make you feel better if I said that I'm definitely not a serial killer but I'm kind of a dick sometimes?"

It was Leah's turn to laugh. "Now that I have no trouble believing."

Gabe continued smiling in her direction and Leah bowed her head to clear her mind. "I'm really not trying to screw up the order here."

The warning that had been on the tip of Leah's tongue finally wormed its way out of her mouth. "Reese is putting herself on the line for you. People have burned her in the past and while you don't seem the type, I've been wrong before. Just so you know, if you screw her over it'll be me you have to worry about and not your brother."

Gabe raised a single eyebrow and a mischievous light filtered through his eyes. "Oh, I don't doubt it."

Leah got the impression that he was mocking her, though not necessarily maliciously. Gabe liked playing games, that much she'd figured out. But as to his actual endgame, Leah was unsure. But, she could take a joke and figured that Gabe could take whatever he dished out. "You know you're right," she said and started for the staircase, headed for her room. "You are kind of a dick."

The sound of Gabe's laughter followed her up the stairs and Leah was glad he couldn't see her smile.

 **A/N: Saint Reese! Troubled Leah! Dick Gabriel! I know last chapter I promised we'd drop in on other characters. I'm going to try and get there in the coming chapters! I'm working on set up and once we get past the apocalypse I realize that there's the year gap where Dean is with Lisa and Sam is hunting with Samuel. I'm considering a run-in between Gabriel and soulless Sam? Thoughts?**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think! Much love - Chinchilla**


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